


Catching Stars

by choriarty



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dubious Magic Theory, First Meetings, Love Confessions, M/M, Space Magic, Starcaller AU, Time Skips, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 12:11:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10696773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choriarty/pseuds/choriarty
Summary: “Genji, where in the world are you taking me?”Genji smirked. “I think you mean, where in thegalaxyam I taking you?”Zenyatta huffed and a smile tugged at his mouth. “Alright, where in the galaxy are you taking me that needs a blindfold?”“You’ll see,” Genji chirped and left it as that.- - -A spacey-magical AU!!





	Catching Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nekoromancer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekoromancer/gifts).



> this is a gift to my friend based on their cute art!!! 
> 
> you can find it [from the source](https://twitter.com/tastysakura/status/854260258100969472) or [at this fanart of the au!!](https://twitter.com/greatsenpai/status/854575074812215297)
> 
> its a fantasy-spacey au.

“Genji, where in the world are you taking me?” 

Genji smirked. “I think you mean, where in the _galaxy_ am I taking you?”

Zenyatta huffed and a smile tugged at his mouth. “Alright, where in the galaxy are you taking me that needs a blindfold?”

“You’ll see,” Genji chirped and left it as that.

He could hear Zenyatta inhale and think of what to say, and then let it go in a sigh. Genji chuckled. “Don’t worry! You’ll like it! I know you will.”

“I trust you, Genji.”

Genji was hit with another one of those pesky pangs of affection right in the diaphragm. It was always a wonder how Zenyatta was able to say such intimate things with a straight face, since it always made Genji’s face contort into something embarrassing. 

But this was it. He was going to end it once and for all. All of the dancing around, all of the platonic pats on the shoulder and shoulder to cry on, all of it came to this very moment. Anticipation welled up inside Genji. This was it.

He was going to show Zenyatta how he truly felt about him.

= = =

_He was going to perish here._

_It had been hours since Genji began trying to dispel the black hole that teetered on the edge of his home territory. With every minute, every second, it crept like tar towards its goal. If it got that far, it would destroy everything. The entire colony would likely be wiped out. There were barely enough ships to ferry goods back and forth from other colonies, there was no way that it would fit an entire city._

_All of this ran through Genji’s mind on loop, pushing him to stand again and again. His obi had long since been shredded and torn to the emptiness of space, the fabric barely hanging onto his hips. Indigo blood seeped from the wounds on his chest and arms, clearly visible with his clothes just as sliced. He flicked his draconic tail in irritation and the grip on his sword shake. Why wouldn’t this damn thing just die?!_

_Genji was about to go for another round when he saw something-- no, someone off in the near distance. Their bright glow stood out against the black backdrop of space, Genji had almost mistaken it for a star._

_“Hey!” he called out. “Get out of here! You wanna be eaten or something?”_

_The figure turned to him, finally revealing the omnic face haloed by glowing light._

= = =

“You can take the blindfold off now.”

The strip of fabric fell away to reveal the scene before Zenyatta. It was stars-- or at least, the lack of them. In all of the wonder of space there looked to be one chunk that was truly empty. It made Zenyatta offput, and he got the urge to fill it in to match the rest of everywhere.

“You brought me out here to show me space, Genji?” Zenyatta asked. “We both see space on a daily basis since we live in it.”

“No!” Genji groaned. “No, don’t you remember this place? Is there anything familiar?”

Zenyatta took the time to look around, finger on his chin like some kind of old man. It should have been stupid-looking, but it wasn’t. It was cute. Godamnit.

“Oh!” Zenyatta clapped his hands together. “This is where we first met.”

Warmth surged through Genji all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. “Yeah, you got it.”

Zenyatta hummed and hesitated. “May I ask why you took me here…? It appears to look the same as the last time we were here.”

Genji took his cue and ran with it, a grin plastered onto his face. “Just watch me.”

= = =

_“Stop!” he yelled at the figure, who can kept walking even though he knew it had heard him. He let out a loud and long groan before flying out to where the omnic was headed. It was probably some senile one, or maybe it had its comprehending chip damaged. No same person, metal or not, would purposefully go towards a black hole._

_Well, other than Genji._

_Upon a closer look he discovered what the source of that glow was. Eight bright orbs floated around the omnic’s collar (if Genji looked closer, he saw stars etched into them) and it wore a pair of baggy lavender pants. What was most odd about it was what it wore as a shirt. A dark purple shirt that might have once been owned by a sailor draped over his chassis and a sailor’s beret that matched his pants sat on it's head.  
Despite the ridiculousness of it all there was a small part of Genji, far in the back, that felt a rush of excitement as one of the characters from his childhood cartoons stepped into reality. _

_Then he was upon the stranger, blocking its way towards death. “Can't you hear? This place is dangerous. You need to leave.”_

_The omnic tilted its head in confusion, like Genji had just grown two extra heads. “I am quite aware of the dangers.”_

_Genji squinted his eyes in disbelief. “You…” he shook his head. “No. I don't have the time to be dealing with some suicidal robot. Stay over here, don't go any farther.”_

_There was an awkward silent moment where Genji waited for a response and the omnic seemed to be computing it. Genji opened his mouth again, but then the omnic finally spoke._

_“As you wish.”_

_There was something that rubbed Genji the wrong way about the robot’s tone, though it was nothing he could actually name. The omnic was polite and calm, possessive a warm voice that Genji would have enjoyed if he wasn’t currently halfway to death. Perhaps it was all of those things together and it’s mild manner at the situation was the cause._

_Genji just sighed and flew off, trying to shake off the interaction._

= = =

“Oh, Genji,” Zenyatta sighed in awe.

In front of their eyes, the tiny specks of light began to multiply again and again, filling the black emptiness. The phenomenon came closer until it was upon them, clouds of stardust bursting to life only feet away from them.

“It’s beautiful.”

Genji soaked in the praise like a man dying of thirst. “This is all because of you, Master.”

Zenyatta turned back to his pupil and tilted his head (a movement that Genji thought was adorable). “You do yourself a disservice, Genji. I may have guided you along the path of learning, but it was you who took each and every step towards success.”

“Yeah, but I would never have known the path was there if it wasn’t for you. You taught me everything about this magic. I would not be here if not for you.”

Zenyatta stood firmly, intent of defending his student’s progress from himself. “It was you who mastered everything I have to teach. I could speak on galaxies and lecture on the universe until the end of time, but it would have done nothing if you did not have the verve to take the knowledge and do something with it.”

Affection and annoyance hit Genji at the same amount. To hear such praise from his teacher filled him to the brim with pride and love; however, Genji was trying to praise Zenyatta and not himself.

“Anyways, that’s not the point,” Genji waved it off.

“Take your time,” Zenyatta teased.

Genji scrunched his nose and made his master laugh, giving him the courage to say what he brought Zenyatta here to say.

“My point is that I feel like I have learned all I can from you,” Genji said. “And I wish to be your student no longer.”

= = =

_Genji knew now with his whole being that he would die in this spot._

_Despite all of his powers, all of the skills he had honed through his entire life, it was not enough. The black hole loomed over him, eating the very noise from around him and filling his ears with the sound of nothing. At the corners of his eyes he watched tiny stars blink out and disappear._

_He had never been so terrified._

_A rush of regret and fear hit him full on. He had not done all that he wanted to yet, there were accomplishments that still sat on his bucket list. Genji did not want to die. He wanted to live. He was afraid._

_But his body would not move. Fatigue weighed on his arms and pain stabbed through his legs. His sword had been devoured and his face mask had been shredded. Genji could barely keep his head up to watch the great nothingness swallow him._

_He didn’t want to die yet._

= = =

“Oh,” Zenyatta said with less enthusiasm than Genji expected. “What brought this on?”

Second thoughts began to nag at Genji’s mind, but he shooed them away. He needed to do this, no matter what.

“I have been thinking about it for a while, actually…” he avoided. “I do not want to burden you any longer, when there are many others who could use your help.”

Zenyatta watched Genji in silence and, for the first time in a very long time, Genji could not tell what expression he wore. For the first time since he had known him, Zenyatta’s hands moved as stiffly as an automaton, while just seconds ago they were filled with life.

“If you are worried about being a burden, then you need not,” Zenyatta said, reading off of some invisible script. “You could never be anything but a blessing.”

“Er, yes, well…” Genji began to lose his cool. “I just mean, it does neither of us any benefit if I continue to be your pupil. You admitted yourself that I have learned everything you have to teach.”

“... I suppose that I did.”

“See? You understand,” he rolled with it as long as his wavering confidence could. “It would be better if I left your mentorship.”

Zenyatta examined his soon to be formal pupil, making Genji fidget. He could feel those slits for eyes rake over him, judge him, decide whether he was worthy or not.

And then Zenyatta sagged. His glowing orbs dimmed and slowed to the pace of molasses. “I... I cannot say that I did not see this coming,” he murmured. “But still it pains me to see you leave. I am so very proud of you, Genji. Watching you heal and flourish has been a gift that I am honoured to have received.”

Genji’s gut dropped as he realized just what Zenyatta was saying.

“I only hope that you do not forget your old master.”

= = =

_Just as blackness began to swallow his vision, Genji felt a ripple in space. He could not move his head to look, could not turn his body, but the disturbance seemed to be coming straight for him. There was no warmth in space, and yet he felt it wash over him the way water would on the beach._

_The warmth gave him strength, enough strength to finally turn his head._

_There was the omnic, perfectly untouched by the destruction of the black hole, calmly walking towards it. Genji panicked, tried to call out to them and warn them. For Genji to perish would be disappointing, but to have the blood of another’ that he could not protect on his hands… His soul would never rest._

_Yet the omnic’s clothes did not pull towards the endless nothing. The tassel on their beret stayed perfectly calm and the floating orbs continued their orbit around them. If Genji was not currently dying from it and only went on the basis of the stranger, he would not know that there was a black hole there at all._

_Instead of being swallowed, the glow around the omnic only grew brighter as it approached. Each step left a luminous footprint behind them as if they were only taking a stroll along the beach. There was no sound, but Genji could feel the groan of the black hole creak like an old ship._

_The stranger put their hands together in a formation that Genji couldn’t make out from this distance. Suddenly six extra arms sprouted from his back, each glowing with enough golden light to warm an entire galaxy. The omnic held their right hand up, the index and middle finger sticking out together, and then touched the nothing._

_With a golden ripple, like some big luminescent rock had dropped into a pond, the black hole died._

= = =

“No!” Genji yelped out. “No, no, that’s not what I meant at all!!”

Zenyatta twitched. “So you do not want to leave my tutelage?”

“Well, no,” Genji rubbed the back of his neck. “I do, but I don’t want to leave.”

The omnic jerked his head back in confusion. “... I’m afraid that I do not understand, Genji.”

“Shit…” Genji groaned. “I messed this up really bad.”

He stared down at his hands, playing with the partial black glove that covered his palm, too nervous to actually look Zenyatta in the eyes. Genji took a deep breath.

“Travelling with you, master, has changed my life. You have picked me up and helped me to my feet, you stayed tolerant even when I was ungrateful and impatient, and you have stayed with me longer than anyone else in my life. A trillion stars in a million galaxies would not compare to the brightness that you have. The only thing in the entire multiverse that could keep me from you is you requesting it yourself.

“I don’t want to be your pupil anymore, and I don’t want you to be my teacher, but I want to stay with you if you will have me. I want to explore the stars all over again so we can experience them not as master and student, but as Zenyatta and Genji. I want the chance to win your affections without our titles. 

“The only reason why I want to graduate and move on is because I have fallen in love with you, and it’d be impossible to do anything about it as your student,” Genji floundered. “You understand, right? I don’t want to be your pupil, I want to be your boyfrien…….”

Genji trailed off as his brain finally caught up with his mouth. Well. That was not the way that he wanted to go about things. He had planned to take Zenyatta somewhere romantic, a few somewheres that were romantic, and woo him before confessing.

But there he was, confession confessed.

“Uhm--” he muttered.

And then Zenyatta began to laugh. He laughed and laughed until his feet couldn’t stay straight any longer and he kicked his feet in the air. He held his sides and threw his head back as he laughed, and Genji believed for a second that flowers could grow in space.

“Genji,” Zenyatta beamed, barely having come down from his fit. “You are very silly.”

Genji’s stomach sank as he felt his chances at romance shatter before him. “Well, uhm…”

“You could have just told me,” Zenyatta said. “I love you too.”

Genji froze halfway through his internal wailing as his brain comprehended what his master had just said. “You-- uh-- love me too?”

“Yes. I do.”

Zenyatta yelped as he was picked up and spun around. Genji had pulled down his mask and peppered kisses on any part he could get his lips on. Their laughter echoed through the emptiness of space, now just a little bit warmer.

= = =

_“You…” Genji trailed off, still trying to understand what he had seen. “You destroyed it. With one touch.”_

_The omnic ignored Genji and knelt beside him. “You are injured. Let me help.”_

_One of the glowing orbs plucked itself from its orbit and attached itself to Genji with a golden tether, but he barely noticed. “How did you do that?”_

_“Magic,” they replied. “Please hold still.”_

_Genji grabbed onto the omnic’s arm, his knuckles turning white and his claws digging in with his desperation. “Please, you must teach me. I know now, I need to get stronger.”_

_The omnic shifted nervously. “You are very hurt, so anything you say may be the result of a concussion or blood loss.”_

_“I mean it, more than anything I’ve said in my entire life, please. You must help me become stronger.”_

_“I have not taken a disciple in a very long time.”_

_“I will behave! I can clean and cook and do whatever else you need of me--”_

_“No, no, you need not do any of that,” the omnic shook their head. “How about this; if you remember and still think this way after you are finished recovering, I will take you in.”_

_“Yes, I will,” Genji babbled. “Please, tell me your name.”_

_“You may call me Zenyatta.”_

_“Zenyatta,” Genji tested out the sound on his tongue. “Then, Zenyatta-sensei, I look forward to learning under you._

**Author's Note:**

> the au is kind of open-ended and vague, so just have fun with it!!


End file.
